SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.
Siege of Sebastopol continues--Sardinia joins the Western Alliance
--Battle of Eupatoria--Sudden death of Emperor Nicholas--His
love and pride for his Army--His last Words--Alexander II.
ascends the Throne--His Manifesto to his Subjects--A Sketch of
him--Recall of Prince Menschikoff from command in the Crimea
--His abilities and failings--His Successors--Gortschakoff’s
Military Career.
The conference at Vienna not having arrived at any definite terms of
adjustment for Peace, the siege of Sebastopol was continued, although
the severity of the weather would not admit of active operations from
the besiegers or the besieged; the Allies were busied in drawing
their lines closer to the walls, which provoked occasional sorties
from the Russians, of small detachments of troops, which were quickly
repulsed.
The King of Sardinia notified France and England of his decision to
join the Allied Powers, and placed at their disposal 10,000 troops,
with transports and munitions of war. On the 17th of February, 1855,
25,000 Russians, with 80 pieces of artillery, under orders from
Gen. Osten Sacken, commanded by Gen. Korff, attacked the town of
Eupatoria, on the east side. The combat lasted from half-past five
o’clock until ten o’clock in the morning; under cover of a heavy fire
from their artillery, the Russians made two or three attempts to
carry the town by storm, but they were vigorously repulsed, and after
a loss of 500 killed and 1300 wounded, retired towards Simpheropol.
The steamers at anchor in the roadstead contributed energetically
to the defence of the town, throwing shot and shells into the ranks
of the enemy. The Turks had 88 killed and 250 wounded. Selim Pasha,
General of the Egyptian Division, and Colonel Rustem Bey, were
killed. Eighteen French were killed or wounded on shipboard.
On the 2d of March, 1855, an event transpired which convulsed the
public mind throughout Europe and the world, causing the reflection
that all are in the immediate power of that Supreme Being who is King
of Kings and Emperors, and that he it is who holds the destinies
of nations in his hands. Emperor Nicholas of Russia, who had been
indisposed for some time from an attack of influenza, but had
neglected to take proper care, or to spare himself from his customary
fatiguing duties in the inspection of his troops, grew alarmingly
ill, and pulmonary apoplexy supervening, mortal aid was unavailing,
and at one o’clock on the morning of the 2d he breathed his last.
His last words were truly significant of the “ruling passion strong
in death,” _his love and devotedness to his army_--with whose
unwavering support, his towering ambition led him to believe, the
world might be conquered:--“I thank the glorious loyal Guards who,
in 1825, saved Russia; and I also thank the brave army and fleet;
I pray God to maintain, however, the courage and spirit by which
they have distinguished themselves under me. So long as this spirit
remains upheld, Russia’s tranquillity is secured both within and
without. Then woe to her enemies! I loved them as my own children,
and strove as much as I could to improve their condition. If I was
not entirely successful in that respect, it was from no want of
will, but because I was unable to devise anything better, or to do
more.” Nicholas was born on the 7th of July, 1796, having succeeded
his brother Alexander on the 1st Dec., 1825, was sixty years of age
at the time of his death, having spent one half of his life on the
throne.
[Illustration: ALEXANDER II., EMPEROR OF ALL THE RUSSIAS.]
A few hours after the death of the Czar Nicholas, his son, heir,
and successor, Alexander II., ascended the throne and the officers
of the imperial house took the oaths of allegiance. The new Emperor
in his manifesto to his subjects says--as his father devoted
himself incessantly for the welfare of his Empire, “so do we also
on ascending the throne of Russia, and of Poland and Finland,
inseparable from it, take a solemn oath before God to regard the
welfare of our Empire as our only object. May Providence, which has
selected us for so high a calling, be our guide and protector, that
we may maintain Russia on the highest standard of power and glory,
and in our person accomplish the incessant wishes and views of
Peter, of Catharine, of Alexander, and of our father. May the zeal
of our subjects assist us therein. We invoke and command the oath of
allegiance to us, and to the heir to the throne, our son Nicholas
Alexandrowitsch.” The new Sovereign of Russia is thirty-seven years
of age, his figure tall and commanding, his features fine, with
a Grecian profile, an expression of kindness, a step light and
gracefully noble. Previous to his accession, he held the posts of
Commander-in-Chief of the Corps de la Garde, and of the Grenadiers;
presided over the Military School, and was Curator-in-Chief of the
Military Hospital of Tchesmé, and holds the command of the Lancers,
the Carabiniers of Erivan, &c.
He was initiated, at an early age, into the affairs of the Empire
by the Emperor his father; he was present at all the councils; he
was invested with situations which gave him frequent opportunities
of rendering himself useful to the army, and pleasing to the youth
of the schools. Whenever the Emperor Nicholas quitted the capital,
he left the supreme direction of the Government to his son; in
short, he had taken the utmost pains to prepare him to become his
successor. The new Emperor is very popular in Russia--he is beloved
and esteemed by the people. He will not exercise the great authority
of his father, for he does not inherit either his hauteur or his
inflexibility. He will rather please, as the Emperor Alexander I.
did, by his mildness and his affability; and between the uncle and
the nephew there is a very great similarity of character in numerous
ways. The new Empress is also highly spoken of, and her elevated
judgment and her conciliating manners are much extolled. It is
thought she will exercise a salutary influence over the Emperor.
One of the last acts of the late Emperor of Russia was the
recalling of Prince Menschikoff from the command he has held in
the Crimea since the commencement of hostilities. He was chosen
by the late Emperor as one of the principal members of the old
Muscovite party in the state to proceed on the mission to the
Porte, which gave the signal of the contest. He performed the
mission with arrogance--unconciliating, and even uncouth in his
manners--unacquainted with the forms of diplomatic intercourse or the
political dangers he called into life--Prince Menschikoff succeeded
in nothing but in rousing the spirit of the Divan to all the ardor
of resistance, and in enlisting the sympathy of Europe on the side
of his victim. In his capacity of Admiral, Head of the Fleet, and
Minister of Marine, he continued with great energy to face the storm
he had drawn down upon his country; and it must be acknowledged that
he showed great energy and inexhaustible resource in the defence of
Sebastopol. There is no example in history of defences and works of
so extensive a character thrown up by a besieged garrison in presence
of a powerful enemy; and the highest compliment which can be offered
to Prince Menschikoff is the simple statement of fact, that on the
26th of September the place was almost open, and only defended by the
vessels in the harbor; but that five months later, and in spite of
continued attacks, the town was supposed by many persons impregnable
to any direct assault.
Prince Gortschakoff, who was in command of the Russian forces in the
Principalities, was appointed to take command in the Crimea, and Gen.
Osten Sacken was appointed second in command.
Prince Gortschakoff is one of those who has attained his present
eminent position by ascending, spoke by spoke, the “ladder of fame.”
The first that was known of him as a military man was his serving
in a subordinate rank in the Artillery of the Imperial Guards. This
was in the year 1828, he being then about thirty years of age.
In 1829 he formed one of the staff of the Kratsowski Corps, and
served with them in Silistria and at Shumla--he took part, together
with Gen. Krassoffsky, in artillery operations connected with the
beleaguerment of Silistria. After a siege of six weeks the garrison
surrendered as prisoners of war. In 1831 Gortschakoff was required to
take part in the war in Poland; and for his services in the campaign
he was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant-General.
At Grochow, the Russians, under the command of Count Pahlen, had been
compelled to retreat before the Poles, when, by the concentration of
the artillery force under the command of Gortschakoff, the battle
was turned in favor of the Russians. At Ostrolenka, also, he greatly
distinguished himself. The Poles, after an obstinate resistance, were
compelled to abandon the place. In September, 1831, the capital,
Warsaw, capitulated. In 1843 he was promoted to the rank of General
of Artillery. In 1846 he was appointed Military Governor of Warsaw.
He took an important part in the Hungarian war of 1849. As soon as
the occupation of the Danubian provinces was determined upon, the
Prince was appointed to the chief command of the Imperial forces.
When he entered Wallachia, he published a proclamation, to the effect
that the Czar, his master, had no design of conquest, and that the
independence of the inhabitants would, in every way, be protected.
This promise was not fulfilled. Shortly after this, he issued the
celebrated appeal to the fanaticism of the Russians, ending with the
words--“Mort aux Pagans” (death to the infidels). As has been stated,
the Prince has gradually attained his present high rank.
He is now Aide-de-Camp General, General of Artillery, and Chef
d’Etat Major of the active army, and privileged to take part in
the deliberations of the Councils of the Empire. He is also
Military Governor of Warsaw, and the chief member of the Council of
Administration of the Kingdom of Poland.
The diplomatic achievements of the Prince are numerous, but they are
more characteristic than great. He is said to be more of a bully than
a diplomatist, doubles his fists too often to wear the “white glove”
well--he being one of the most petulant and factious of mankind, and
at the same time one of the most obstinate and overbearing.
THE FALL OF SEBASTOPOL.
It is nearly a year since we were first startled by the announcement
that Sebastopol had fallen. But that news proved false, and ever
since the public ear has been opened to catch the announcement of the
news of the great feat which two of the mightiest nations of the Old
World had combined their utmost power to accomplish. It has come at
last; superior power and skill have carried the day, as we have never
doubted they would, and Sebastopol has fallen.
The contest on which the eyes of Europe have been turned so long
is nearly decided--the event on which the hopes of so many mighty
empires depended is all but determined. And one more great act of
carnage has been added to the tremendous, but glorious tragedy, of
which the whole world, from the most civilized nations down to the
most barbarous hordes of the East, has been the anxious and excited
audience.
At dawn on the morning of the 5th of September, 1855, the expected
bombardment commenced on a scale of unprecedented magnitude. The last
and decisive cannonade was begun on Wednesday by the French, who
exploded three fougasses to blow in the counterscarp, and to serve
as a signal to their men. Instantly from the sea to the Dockyard
creek there was seen to run a stream of fire, and fleecy, curling,
rich white smoke, as though the earth had suddenly been rent in the
throes of an earthquake, and was vomiting forth the material of her
volcanoes. The lines of the French trenches were at once covered as
though the very clouds of heaven had settled down upon them and were
whirled about in spiral jets, in festoons, in clustering bunches,
in columns and in sheets, all commingled, involved together by the
vehement flames beneath.
After two hours and a half of furious fire, the artillery-men
suddenly ceased, in order to let their guns cool and to rest
themselves. The Russians crept out to repair the damages to their
works, and shook sandbags full of earth from the parquette over the
outside of their parapets.
At 10 o’clock, however, the French reöpened a fire, if possible,
more rapid and tremendous than their first, and continued to keep
it up with the utmost vigor till 12 o’clock at noon, by which time
the Russians had only a few guns in the Flagstaff road and Garden
Batteries in a position to reply. From 12 to 5 o’clock P. M., the
firing was slack; the French then resumed their cannonade with the
same astounding vigor as at dawn and at 10 o’clock, and never ceased
their volleys of shot and shell against the place till 7 1/2, when
darkness set in, and all the mortars and heavy guns, English as well
as French, opened with shell against the whole line of defences.
A description of this scene is impossible. There was not one instant
in which the shells did not whistle through the air--not a moment in
which the sky was not seamed by their fiery curves or illuminated by
their explosion.
THE SECOND DAY’S BOMBARDMENT.
_Sept. 6_--A steady fire was kept up along the front, to prevent
the Russians repairing damages. At 5 1/2 o’clock the whole of the
batteries from Quarantine to Inkermann opened with a grand crash. The
Russians were silent as before. The cannonade was maintained as it
was the day before. There were three breaks or lulls in the tempest;
from 8 1/2 till 10 o’clock, from 12 till 5, and from 6 1/2 till 7
o’clock the fire was comparatively slack.
THIRD DAY’S BOMBARDMENT.
_Sept. 7_--The cannonade was resumed at daybreak, the Inkermann
batteries firing briskly. A counsel of generals was held at
headquarters. The firing was tremendous all day, but clouds of dust
which a high wind from the north drifted, rendered a view of the
place impossible.
At 12 o’clock on Saturday the 8th, within a few days of the
anniversary of the landing of the allied forces in the Crimea,
and 316 days after the opening of the besieging batteries against
Sebastopol, on the 17th of October, 1854, a final and victorious
assault was made. The morning was bitterly cold.
THE ASSAULT.
_Sept. 8_--A biting wind from the north side of Sebastopol blew
intolerable clouds of harsh dust. The sun was obscured; the sky was
of a leaden, wintry grey.
Early in the morning a strong force of cavalry, under the command
of Colonel Hodge, was moved up to the front, and formed a chain of
sentries in front of Cathcart’s hill and all along the lines.
General Pelissier during the night collected about 30,000 men in
and about the Mamelon to form the storming columns for Malakoff and
Little Redan, and to provide the necessary reserves. The French were
reinforced by 5,000 Sardinians, who marched up from the Tchernaya the
night previous. It was arranged that the French were to attack the
Malakoff at noon, and as soon as their attack began that the English
were to assault the Redan.
A few minutes before 12 o’clock, the French, like a swarm of bees,
issued forth from their trenches close to the doomed Malakoff,
swarmed up its face, and were through its embrasures in the twinkling
of an eye. They crossed the ground which separated them from the
enemy at a few bounds--they drifted as lightly and quickly as
autumn leaves before the wind, battalion after battalion, into the
embrasures, and in a minute or two after the head of their column
issued from the ditch, the tricolor was floating over the Korniloff
bastion. The musketry was very feeble at first--indeed they took the
Russians quite by surprise, and very few of the latter were in the
Malakoff; but they soon recovered themselves, and from 12 o’clock
till past 7 in the evening, the French had to meet and defeat the
repeated attempts of the enemy to begin the work, and the little
Redan, when weary of the fearful slaughter of his men who lay in
thousands over the exterior of the works, the Muscovite general,
despairing of success, withdrew his exhausted legions, and prepared,
with admirable skill, to evacuate the place.
The English attacked the Redan with two divisions. The struggle that
took place was desperate and bloody. The soldiers, taken at every
disadvantage, met the enemy with the bayonet, and isolated combats
took place, in which the brave fellows who stood their ground had
to defend themselves against three or four adversaries at once. In
this _mêlée_ the officers, armed only with their swords, had little
chance: nor had those who carried pistols much opportunity of using
them in such a rapid contest. They fell like heroes, and many a
gallant soldier with them. The bodies of English and Russians inside
the Redan, locked in an embrace which death could not relax, but had
rather cemented all the closer, lay next day inside the Redan as
evidences of the terrible animosity of the struggle. But the solid
weight of the advancing mass, urged on and fed each moment from
the rear, by company after company, and battalion after battalion,
prevailed at last against the isolated and disjointed band, who had
abandoned the protection of unanimity of courage and had lost the
advantage of discipline and obedience. As though some giant rock had
advanced into the sea and forced back the waters that had buffeted
it, so did the Russian columns press down against the spray of
soldiery which fretted their edge with fire and steel, and contended
in vain against their weight. The struggling band was forced back by
the enemy, who moved on, crushing friend and foe beneath their solid
tramp, and, bleeding, panting and exhausted, the Englishmen lay in
heaps in the ditch beneath the parapet, sheltered themselves behind
stones and in bomb-craters in the slope of the work, or tried to pass
back to the advanced parallel and sap, and had to run the gauntlet of
a tremendous fire. Many of them lost their lives, or were seriously
wounded in the attempt.
Upon the final establishment of General Bosquet’s division of the
French army in the Malakoff, Prince Gortschakoff instantly proceeded
to execute a preärranged plan for the destruction and evacuation of
the town. All that night the harbor was illuminated by the lurid
glare of burning ships, and from time to time the explosion of
vast magazines rent asunder enormous piles of masonry, while an
all-devouring conflagration swept like the scourge of Heaven over the
devastated city. Sebastopol perished, like Moscow, by the hands of
her defenders, while her successful assailants witnessed the awful
spectacle unscathed. Means of retreat had been secured by a long
bridge of rafts across the great harbor, and for many hours large
masses of troops were removed by this passage to the northern side
of the town; but at eight o’clock in the morning of the 9th, this
communication was stopped--the whole of the works and town had been
evacuated.
The loss of life was fearful, upwards of 30,000 men being killed or
wounded.
Four thousand cannon, fifty thousand balls, and immense stores of
gunpowder were taken possession of by the allies.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Headley.
[2] Headley.
[3] See Table on the following page.
[4] This is a decoration instituted by Abdul-Medjid after his
father’s example. It is of simple enamelled gold, divided into
five classes, and bearing an inscription, engraved in Turkish
words--Ghairet, Sadakat, Hamiet (Courage, Fidelity, Zeal).
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained: for example,
artillery-men, artillerymen; head-quarters, headquarters; foot-steps,
footsteps; exhaustless; pacificated; undiscouraged; stept; impolicy.
Table of Contents:-
In Chapter I summary section the page number ‘1’ has been added at
the end of that section.
In some Chapter summaries in the Table of Contents, and in the main
text as well, there was a period before each dash. Most did not, and
this period has been removed so that ‘Badajos.--Its Capture’ for
example has been changed to ‘Badajos--Its Capture’. This occurred in
Chapters II through VI.
In Chapter VI the page number ‘217’ has been changed to ‘199’.
In Chapter VII the page number ‘221’ has been changed to ‘231’.
In Chapter XIII ‘Battle of Alma’ replaced by ‘Battle of the Alma’.
In Chapter XIII ‘Sebastapol’ replaced by ‘Sebastopol’.
In Chapter XV ‘Alaxander II.’ replaced by ‘Alexander II.’.
In Chapter XVI the page number ‘175’ has been changed to ‘393’.
Main text:-
Pg 2: ‘choked the developement’ replaced by ‘choked the development’.
Pg 9: ‘tide off oreign’ replaced by ‘tide of foreign’.
Pg 12: ‘that any other’ replaced by ‘than any other’.
Pg 32: ‘General Gortchakoff’ replaced by ‘General Gortschakoff’.
Pg 33: ‘St. Petersburgh, and’ replaced by ‘St. Petersburg, and’.
Pg 42: ‘dashed to picees’ replaced by ‘dashed to pieces’.
Pg 60: ‘pestiferous miasm’ replaced by ‘pestiferous miasma’.
Pg 68: ‘battle of Rolico.’ replaced by ‘battle of Rolica.’.
Pg 77: ‘way of Almieda,’ replaced by ‘way of Almeida,’.
Pg 131: ‘an aid-de-camp to’ replaced by ‘an aide-de-camp to’.
Pg 144: ‘made our ness’ replaced by ‘made our mess’.
Pg 154: ‘people, whereever’ replaced by ‘people, wherever’.
Pg 178: ‘faithful aids-de-camp’ replaced by ‘faithful aides-de-camp’.
Pg 188: ‘scenes that occured’ replaced by ‘scenes that occurred’.
Pg 204: ‘of the Sumbre.’ replaced by ‘of the Sambre.’.
Pg 207: ‘a morta. hatred’ replaced by ‘a mortal hatred’.
Pg 217: ‘an aid-de-camp was’ replaced by ‘an aide-de-camp was’.
Pg 256: ‘is the vice-gerent’ replaced by ‘is the vice-regent’.
Pg 258: missing header ‘CHAPTER VIII.’ inserted.
Pg 264: ‘persuasives of Francis’ replaced by ‘persuasions of Francis’.
Pg 277: ‘Like Buonaparte,’ replaced by ‘Like Bonaparte,’.
Pg 282: ‘curious concidence,’ replaced by ‘curious coincidence,’.
Pg 323: missing header ‘CHAPTER XIII.’ inserted.
Pg 337: ‘cross the Katscha;’ replaced by ‘cross the Katcha;’.
Pg 357: ‘al their batteries,’ replaced by ‘all their batteries,’.
Pg 372: missing header ‘CHAPTER XV.’ inserted.
Pg 373: ‘thns maimed’ replaced by ‘thus maimed’.
Pg 387: ‘Off the Katscha,’ replaced by ‘Off the Katcha,’.
Pg 397: ‘to extensive a’ replaced by ‘so extensive a’.
Pg 401: several occurrences of 1-2 meaning half-past the hour
have been replaced by 1/2, for example ‘7 1/2’ is seven thirty.